QScope

Bill of quantities

Bill of Quantities software connected to your project

Enter the priced works once. Every certificate values against these lines and the final account adjusts them, so the structure you choose here is the structure your client sees for the rest of the contract.

  • Additions, omissions and substitutions each marked against the bill
  • Variation value carried through to the adjusted contract sum
  • Basis of valuation and contract clause recorded against every change
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Variations
VO-01 Additional window to gable
Basis of valuationContract rates
Contract clauseJCT 5.6.1
Extension of time2 days
Loss and expenseNo
Subtotal£1,000.00
Certified in valuations£1,000.00
Still to certify£0.00

Every approved variation carries its own reference and value and prices in the certificate as a normal line, so the bill and the change control tell one story.

Approved variations join the bill as new lines

A variation changes the priced works.

Recording it on a note beside the bill is how it goes missing at final account. Every approved variation carries its own reference and value and prices in the certificate as a normal line, so the bill and the change control tell one story.

Bill of Quantities

Keep the structure you priced

Enter the bill the way you built it.

  • Section separators for each element, with their own subtotals
  • Reference, description and contract value on every line
  • Order preserved exactly as you entered it
Bill of Quantities
Priced works
ItemValue
1.00 SUBSTRUCTURE£34,200.00
1.01 Excavation and disposal£12,400.00
1.02 Mass concrete foundations£21,800.00
2.00 SUPERSTRUCTURE£96,400.00
2.01 Brickwork to first floor£12,000.00
Contract sum£219,250.33

A certificate that reads like the bill needs no covering explanation. One that reorders everything generates a phone call every month.

Final Account

Provisional sums and omissions behave differently

Both change the contract sum, and confusing them is how a final account turns into an argument.

  • Provisional sums entered at full value and valued as they are used
  • Drawing down a provisional sum in stages is the case for valuing that line as a fixed sum
  • Omitted work marked rather than deleted, so the record of what was priced survives
Final Account
Adjustments from the bill
Original contract sum£219,250.33
Provisional sum, drainage: adjusted(£2,400.00)
Omission, external store(£3,150.00)
Variations, approved+£4,240.00
Adjusted contract sum£217,940.33

A provisional sum is money set aside for work not yet defined. It sits in the bill at full value and you draw it down as the work is instructed and priced. An omission is work the client has removed, and it comes off the contract sum entirely.

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Bill of Quantities

You do not need all of it to issue this month

This matters when you are moving a job that is already running.

  • Enter previously certified figures per line and carry on from there
  • QScope does not need the history of every past valuation to produce the next one
  • Add sections later without disturbing certificates already issued
Bill of Quantities
Partial bill entered
ItemPrev. cert.Value
1.00 SUBSTRUCTURE£30,900£34,200
1.01 Excavation and disposal£12,400£12,400
1.02 Mass concrete foundations£18,500£21,800
2.00 SUPERSTRUCTURE£0£96,400
2.01 Brickwork to first floor£0£12,000
Entered so far£130,600.00

Put in the sections you are valuing this period, enter what has been certified against them previously, and add the rest as the job goes on. You are not blocked from issuing while you type.

Client Valuations

Every certificate values against these lines

The bill is not a document you file once and forget.

  • Each line valued by percentage or as a fixed sum on the certificate
  • Section subtotals carried straight from the bill to the certificate
  • No line certified past its contract value
Client Valuations
Interim certificate PC-04
DescriptionThis valThis period
Substructure100 %£0.00
Brickwork to first floor40 %£4,800.00
VO-01 Additional window100 %£1,000.00
This period, exc VAT£24,180.00
Less retention at 5%(£1,209.00)
Due this certificate, exc VAT£14,031.00

Enter the priced works once and the certificate follows the same references, the same order and the same subtotals, so the client reads a valuation that matches the bill they signed.

Bill of quantities

The bill sets the contract sum

Apply to All Certificates sets the contract sum from the bill and rebuilds the draft valuations.

  • The contract sum becomes the client bill total, including any OHP percentage.
  • Draft valuations are rebuilt from the bill and keep each line's progress.
  • Submitted and approved valuations are never rewritten.
Bill of quantities
The bill sets the contract sum
In the program
Apply to All Certificatesbutton
Applied. Client: £X Sub: £Ybutton

On screen: “Apply to All Certificates”, “Applied. Client: £X Sub: £Y”.

Every other function on the Bill of quantities screen

9 functions the sections above do not cover, each as it works in the program.

Functions 1 to 5

01On contractor projects the print and the email call the document Bill of Quantities.
02An issued valuation keeps the layout it went out with, even after the bill changes.
03Omitted lines come off under LESS OMITTED WORKS, and the table shows the cost plan after omissions.
04Omitting a line also omits it on draft valuations, while issued valuations stay as they were issued.
05The printed bill shows omitted lines struck through, with totals before and after omissions.

Functions 6 to 9

06Importing a bill applies it straight away, so the contract sum and the draft valuations follow the new bill.
07Every line keeps its own identity, so valuations and advances stay with the right line when references are renumbered.
08A line with an advance for materials on site shows that advance under its description.
09Undo will not change a line that an issued valuation stands on.

Who it is for

Four chairs, one valuation on the table

You are applying

You value it, and the certificate cuts it

You value the work line by line and submit the application. When the certificate lands short, the difference is argued line by line too, and your valuation is the evidence.

Applying for payment
the same measurement

You are certifying

You cut it, and you sign your name

You value the same lines from the other chair and issue the certificate. Every percentage you cut has to survive the question of why, a month or a year later.

Certifying payment

You are doing both

You value your own work, alone

You price it, you value it and you apply for it yourself, between site visits. The certificate still has to add up as if a surveyor had built it.

Doing both yourself

You are reporting

You certify value the lender pays on

You certify value in place so the lender can release the next tranche. The valuation is the same arithmetic; the reader was never on site.

Recommending a drawdown

The client, the architect and the tenderer are not on this list. They are the people you let in on a link: they see the one document you sent them, answer it, and that answer is written into the record. No account, no licence, no charge, on every plan.

FAQs

The questions this page raises most often, answered without a sales pitch at the end.

Yes. If your bill is in an awkward format, send it to support and we will tell you the quickest route rather than leaving you to fight it. Either way the sections and subtotals you priced are preserved.

Lines valued by percentage recalculate against the new value. Lines valued as a fixed sum keep the sum you entered. That difference is the whole point of the fixed setting, and it is why lump sums belong on it.

No. Mark it omitted. Deleting loses the record of what was priced and then removed, and at final account the client will ask what happened to it. The audit trail is the answer, and it only exists if the line still does.

No, they are priced separately. Each subcontract carries its own value and retention rate, and the difference between what you certify up and what you certify down is the cash position on the dashboard.

Sections and references are free text, so the bill keeps the structure you priced to. The QScope library itself sits on the NRM1 tree with NRM2 measurement.

From the blog

The part nobody teaches you, written down

Three pieces from the same corner of a contract as this page, answered at length and without a sales pitch at the end.

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Reverse charge VAT: why your subcontractor’s invoice has no VAT on it

Since the domestic reverse charge, most VAT-registered construction supplies inside CIS swap who accounts for the tax: the customer does, not the supplier. Why the invoice looks wrong and is right, the end user exception, and the cash flow effect nobody warns you about.

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JCT or RIBA: which contract for a small building job?

The honest answer is that either beats a two-page quote, and the choice mostly follows who the client is: RIBA’s domestic forms are written for homeowners, JCT Minor Works for jobs run by a professional. And Minor Works is not a small version of the big forms.

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VAT tax point on certificates and retention: when the tax falls due

For construction the tax point is usually the earlier of invoice or payment. Retention is different: its tax point waits until the retention is received or invoiced.

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All 174 pieces

Keep reading

The three parts this page leans on

Valuations and certificates Interim valuations and payment certificates by percentage or fixed sum, with retention and previously certified. UK JCT and NEC, plus FIDIC certificates. See how it works Subcontractor valuations Value subcontract packages, including FIDIC nominated Subcontractors under Clause 5, each with its own retention and cycle, hidden from the client. See how it works Final account From the adjusted contract sum to the final balance under JCT, or the FIDIC Final Statement and Final Payment Certificate, every adjustment on its own line. See how it works

The bill is the spine of the job

Enter the priced works once. Every certificate values against these lines and the final account adjusts them, so the structure you choose here is the structure your client sees for the rest of the contract.

Start free for 30 days See the interactive demo

30 days free, no card.

Rather ask first? Write to help@qscope.co.uk and you will get a reply within one working day, Monday to Friday.